And now, I look to the future. An occasional curse on free moments and dull tasks at work.

Spring is here! Time to get out! (pics for Ed and his short attention span)

M leaves early tomorrow for Trans Iowa. A huge adventure. I’ve been a nag all too often in the past months; always for her own good, but too often without tact or sensitivity. Lining up for anything like that is massive in and of itself, and I’m enormously proud of her. Good stories are sure to come.

With the Zane Gray 50 and the Whiskey Off-road on Saturday as well, excitement will proliferate. I’ll be riding Little Creek, alone with the sky (and Steve and Chuck).

I had a small adventure with Stans this afternoon. My Bonty Mustang and Dry X combo aired up super easy without sealant 8 days ago, and was only a little harder after sealant the second time. Today I aired it down to add a bit more juice, and was dismayed to hear the beads snap off. So I added Stans and slime, and tried to air things back up (with my floor pump, same as before). It took quite a bit longer this time. I presume, based on Chris’ comments about riding in a new Stans tire, that it just didn’t have enough miles. I like the ride and feel and theory, we’ll see this week how the reality pans out.

I’m bringing my burly front wheel, with a Mountain King 2.4, downhill tube, and slime, along too.

It’s the antipenultimate vacation from work. The horror.

I’m looking forward to seeing Missoula in June. To say nothing of the arrival of my orientation material soon.

So, what’s next?

On the political front: I’m currently watching a “voters discussion” panel on The News Hour. Loads of material, but only one stirs me to mention. The stakes of this election are not, as has been so often said, “as high as they could be.” That would be a label to apply to the election of 1860, 1940, perhaps 1800. In the rest of my life the United States will be accommodating itself to a smaller place in the world, precisely the opposite of the post-WWII era. This will be a seismic shift away from a purely capitalist, anthropocentric worldview, and will take generations. Any of the current three candidates (who are all waaay better than Shrub Jr) will be at best a very modest midwife to such an event.